In a northern Wisconsin election where a proposed open pit iron mine has divided residents, five pro-mining candidates won county board seats in Tuesday’s election with the last-minute backing of a well-funded national conservative group.

Four others were defeated in Iron County Board elections despite aggressive support from the Wisconsin chapter of Americans for Prosperity, which was founded by billionaire business operators David and Charles Koch.

The proposed open pit iron mine would run for more than 4 miles through the forest, streams and lakes of the Penokee Hills in the northern portion of the state. Proponents say a mine would bring badly needed jobs to Iron County residents, while critics say the new regulations may not protect the environment from potentially serious hazards from acid runoff and asbestos-like minerals.

After a pro-mine board candidate was defeated in a three-way primary in February, the Madison-based Wisconsin chapter of Americans for Prosperity got involved.

The conservative political action group deployed a field organizer and mailed full-color fliers on March 19 accusing seven opponents of incumbent county board members of being environmentalist radicals and made plans to telephone potential voters and knock on doors.

The group sent a second mailing that lauded eight board members and one candidate who was challenging an incumbent.

County Clerk Mike Saari said he couldn’t remember another election where even one incumbent faced a challenger. Typically, someone must be recruited to run unopposed after a board member retires, Saari said.

In Tuesday’s election, 10 board members had opponents. Only one race had candidates who weren’t named in AFP materials.

Gogebic Taconite is drilling and sampling in preparation for making application to the state Department of Natural Resources for a mining permit under relaxed mining regulations approved in 2013 by Republicans who control state government.

The company has had no problem with county board members so far, a spokesman has said.

It’s not clear how effective the AFP campaign was.

One of seven challengers the group called radicals was a union member who supported relaxed regulations. Karl Krall of Saxon was among the mine supporters who Republican Gov. Scott Walker had stand with him during his state of the state address pushing for mining investment.

AFP organizers have declined to detail how they chose the candidates they named in the mailings, except to say that they used information from knowledgeable people.

Krall said he supported the legislation, but felt the county board was ignoring other issues, such as needed road repairs, by saying that all the county’s problems would be solved after the mine was built.

Another challenger targeted by AFP was Vic Ouimette, a former county Democratic Party chairman who supported a new mine law, but then became disenchanted with many provisions of the statute that eventually passed.

Ouimette, who said the county board wasn’t asking enough questions about the proposal, beat incumbent James Lambert 106-89.

One of the AFP-backed incumbents, Scott Erickson, outpolled Richard Thiede, a retiree who has blogged extensively about what he sees as holes in Gogebic Taconite’s plans, 135-44.

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